Spark in the Heavens
by SpartanSuperman
Summary: The Empire's reach is everywhere, oppressing the galaxy under the iron fist of Darth Vader. Yet resistance is found. Kaye Sanow, an ex-Jedi, along with her little band, seek to alleviate their corner of the galaxy from the Empire. And nearby, an ancient entity is slowly preparing his return...
1. Chapter 1

Kaye looked down the frosted barrel of her scope-less rifle and fired, a sizzling orange bolt streaking through the frigid air until it struck the gang leader two hundred meters away in the back of his armored head. The unusually large Rodian fell to the ground, throwing up a faint cloud of snow.

Kaye smiled and lifted her rifle onto her shoulders, magnetically locking it into place upon her worn burnished armor and she quickly began to climb her way down the snow-dusted construction site where she had been hiding. She dropped about ten meters onto a support beam when bright red lasers began sizzling dangerously close to her body. She cursed and rolled off the support beam to hit the ground hard inside the structure, the lasers angrily striking the metal behind her. She should've been more careful—Liqo would've prepared for an attack.

Over the metal wall and sound of the lasers blasting Kaye could hear Liqo swearing at her in his native Rodian. It was quite rude, and Kaye didn't appreciate foulmouthed ruffians. Switching on her comlink, Kaye had to shout to be heard as Liqo's men started firing missile rounds. She moved farther inside the unfinished building as the wall she left behind her began to dent and melt. Finally, her comlink crackled to life, her breath swirling around the device in her hand.

"You called, Master?"

Kaye blushed in the shadows of the building despite herself.

"Batero, I need you to finish the job. I know you're not fully recovered from the Cato Nemoidia mission, but if you don't get here soon I'm going to be burnt nerf meat."

Batero laughed. It was a warm, strong sound. Like the rumbling of a waterfall flowing from a planet's core.

"I'll be there as soon as I can, Master, but this is the last time I get you out of trouble. You owe _me_ now."

Kaye smiled and replied, "Never discuss favors with a politician, Batero—and stop calling me Master!"

Kaye clicked her comlink off but not before she heard Batero start another retort. She smiled again. The smile faded as she heard footsteps, irregular but frenzied, growing louder by the moment. She pulled her rifle off her shoulder and primed the charge inside, crouching down behind a half-finished wall. She brushed her long auburn hair out of her face and steadied her breathing as she put the butt of her scope-less rifle to the crook of her shoulder. The gangsters were almost upon her.

Kaye closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. She couldn't see, not even the way true Jedi could—within their minds eye—but she could feel and interact with emotions in this state. Around her, Kaye felt fear and anger primarily—the anger was being fed by the fear.

Mentally reaching out, she tentatively 'touched' one of her assailants, a Gamorrean runt who immediately stopped in his tracks as she tugged on that fear, intensifying his anxiety. He screamed in terror, dropped his weapons and ran away, lumbering past two of his comrades. Kaye began to reach out to them, hopefully turn them on each other, until her consciousness was ripped back to her body as Liqo— _where had he come from_ —slammed her against the wall and began to choke her with his scaly yellow tentacle-like hands.

Liqo was physically quite strong, Kaye acknowledged as she pulled at his arms with one hand and with her other strained to reach for her concealed blaster but Liqo smashed her other arm against her chest. His pursed lips quivered and his bulbous black eyes reflected the brilliant white of the planet's seven moons as he muttered, "Close, but not close enough, bounty hunter scum," Liqo lowered his scaly green head just enough for Kaye to see and pointed to the left side of his scalp. She could see the strike from her rifle on his skull—it made an angry welt; obviously the round didn't pierce through his helmet. Kaye made a side note to purchase disintegrator rounds for the next contract.

Liqo lifted his head up and knocked the blaster Kaye had drawn out of her hand and pinned her down again. He began to tighten his grip on her neck and it became difficult for her to breathe.

"Any time now," Kaye thought impatiently as her vision began to blur the murderous look in Liqo's black eyes. A couple of moments passed as she continued to struggle but to no avail. Wherever Batero was, he was cutting it extremely close. Maybe she could handle it on her own, if she could just focus.

Closing her eyes and clearing her already darkening mind, Kaye felt rage rolling off of Liqo. She tugged on his emotions, forcing calm but like she knew already, it didn't work. The emotion had to exist first for her to exacerbate it.

Panic began to take over her thoughts as she felt her life fading, disrupting her connection to the Force. There was one last option she could try. Clearing her mind one more time she felt the energy around her, separating her from the air, the particles in the air and Liqo's strong scaly hand. Focusing, Kaye concentrated on that natural separation and _pushed_.

Nothing happened, and she felt the bones in her neck collapse.

 _Spawn of a protocol droid_ , Kaye cursed inwardly, forcing her deep blue eyes open one more time to look upon her killer. Then the bright green shaft of a laser sword erupted from his chest.

Liqo's eyes deadened and his grip went slack—the wielder of the emerald blade pushed the smoking gangster to the side where he collapsed in a heap, throwing up billows of snow one last time. Her rescuer stepped forward to stand above her, his shaggy brown hair wet from the falling snow, his smooth face and piercing hazel eyes youthful but intense with worry; Batero.

A loud rushing sound filled Kaye's ears as her vision blurred Batero's face, unable to discern what was happening. Her chest burned from lack of air. She felt herself being lifted off the ground and quite roughly thrown onto someone's shoulder, most likely Batero's. She saw bright red lines racing past her and a thicker green one swinging in and out of her sight. She heard yelling, then felt herself be thrown again onto ground that echoed dully like metal, then heard a bloodcurdling scream as her stomach lurched from a sudden and rapid ascent through the air.

She was going to die, she realized as she felt her consciousness slip away, her vision fading from red to darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

"I thought you were quitting those," Kaye said, her new voice tinny and robotic.

Batero cocked an eyebrow, swishing a thin cylinder called a streamer between the corners of his mouth. "No, no, the gaping hole where my arm should be doesn't hurt much, Kaye, thanks for asking."

Kaye mustered a pained smile as Batero with his single bandaged arm awkwardly brought his laser sword up to the end of the streamer and pressed the ignition twice in a blink, creating a bright green spark which caused the streamer to smoke. He inhaled deeply of the hallucinogen, closing his eyes, his body visibly relaxing. He let out a slow stream of acrid lavender smoke.

"You still haven't answered my question," Kaye said.

Batero cracked open an eye to look at her.

"I'm getting better." He said as he took another long draw.

"And I am worried about your wound, Batero— if it hadn't been for you I would've died back there. How much further until we reach Geonosis?" Kaye asked, bringing her hands to her neck, attempting to shift the crude respirator wrapped around it to stop chafing so.

"Near two parsecs," He replied.

"Good. Hopefully Theto or one of the Rona's has a solution for your missing arm. Spit of a gundark, I sound like TC." She complained, finally getting the apparatus that saved her life to sit more comfortably.

Batero laughed, slightly shaking his head.

"You have the strangest expressions, Kaye—what was it you said back on Oppal? 'Burnt nerf meat'?" Batero grinned, pulling the streamer from his mouth to flick off the ashen tip.

"Have you ever had burnt nerf meat? It's awful, it's all charred and crunchy." She explained, sitting up from her seat in the gunship's bay to begin stretching her legs.

Batero just shook his head and took the seat she had vacated, tossing his half-smoked streamer in a garbage receptacle on the wall.

"See? I am getting better." He smirked. He leaned back in the seat, his head to his chest and abruptly shut his fogged eyes, his body sagging into deep slumber.

Kaye couldn't blame him. These past few jobs had been especially tough and Batero had dealt with the worst of it. First losing his left leg on Seddes by a well-timed missile blast, then breaking his left arm from an awful fall on Cato Nemoidia to losing his entire right arm on Oppal; the gunship's doors had slid shut while his arm was pulled back outside by one of Liqo's thugs.

Though he had gotten a robotic replacement for his leg from Theto and his left arm was healing properly in a sling slung around his broad shoulders, Kaye couldn't help feeling a sense of foreboding. Deny it all they might, defiant in their conviction to follow the Will of the Force, but their days of being heroes were nearing an end. She just hoped they could see the fruition of all their plans before they had to give it up.

The speakers in the bay chirped and TC-93's tinny voice reverberated around the room, interrupting Batero's obnoxious snoring.

"Mistress Kaye and Master Batero, we have entered Geonosis airspace and are initiating the landing sequence. The other members of Death's Bane are awaiting your presence in the Sun Atrium." The speakers chimed off.

Batero awkwardly shimmied his way up and out of his seat and walked over to stand by Kaye, nodding at her with bleary bloodshot eyes, his hair somehow messier than before. By a tauntaun's breath, he was exhausted. All the same, she nodded back and turned to face the sliding door as the outer doors pulled back and let garish orange light from the planet's setting sun spill through the vertical slats.

It was time to set in motion the final piece of the plan.

These meetings never had a set agenda or a designated speaker, like most groups. They sort of all just talked over each other—all eight members of Death's Bane, seated around a circular holotable that displayed selected planets. The Rodians, Theto and Rona. The other humans, Beam and the other Rona. Finally the Twi'lek Oldroyd and the self-appointed moderator, TC-93.

"We need to focus on the matter on hand," TC pleaded as the others continued to bicker, excepting Batero who was absentmindedly smoking his fourth streamer and Kaye, who was gently massaging her throbbing throat, sticking her long thin fingers in between her improvised voice modulator and her slightly raw neck.

Kaye sometimes wondered how they had made it this far. They had eliminated all but the major crime lords on Tatooine, Oppal and Geonosis, had painstakingly charted hyperspace routes that avoided all Imperial patrols from the Outer Rim to the Core Worlds and had established distribution centers on all three planets for the needy.

The final piece was to obtain a large shipment of Imperial supplies—no weapons, strictly foodstuffs and medicine—to give to their distribution centers. Even a third of the shipment they were planning to heist would provide survival for at least fifty years, even on Tatooine.

Somehow these eight people had orchestrated all of it, the chaos of their meetings notwithstanding. Kaye wished Batero would say something—he was the unspoken leader of the group, even if Theto constantly asserted himself as such. It was actually his comments that had created this latest argument.

"We can't steal the shipment from Coruscant, the Empire would have us before we even got a crate off the ground!" Rodian Rona shouted.

"That's why it's genius! It's audacious! They would never suspect it!" Theto shouted back.

"What if we stole it from Toydaria? The Imperial presence there is nearly nonexistent." Beam reasoned, curling the end of his wispy mustache.

"By that time, half the shipment will have been distributed!" Objected TC-93, a rare display of emotion, causing the discussion to escalate again.

"We're going to steal the shipment from Alderaan." Batero had finally joined the conversation, hushing the other members.

"That's where these supplies are first collected, and that's where we'll take them." Then Batero began smoking a fifth streamer, apparently done with the conversation.

"Batero, Alderaan? The 'model' Imperial planet? You're insane!" Theto hissed, other members nodding in agreement.

"The Empire will have a full legion of troops on the ground and a flotilla of Destroyers in orbit to ensure the shipment arrives on Coruscant." Oldroyd added, his red head-tails quivering, draped down his bare chest.

"It is impossible. The _Dragon Eye_ would be picked up on their scanners before it even exited hyperspace near Alderaan and it is the only ship we have large enough to house the entire shipment. We must choose another planet." TC asserted, changing the display on the holotable from Alderaan back to the hyperspace route the shipment would take through the Core Worlds.

"That's why we'll use the _Mynock's Maw_." Batero chimed in again.

" _Mynock's Maw_? Your gunship?" Theto asked incredulously.

"Yes. Listen—we'll have _Dragon Eye_ wait a short hyperspace jump away, near Jao. Then we'll take _Mynock's Maw_ and fly under the scanners and land out in the forests. After which we will sneak in and take as much of the shipment as we can, crate by crate, one container at a time if we must, back to the gunship then fly it out to _Dragon Eye_ until we've finished the job." Batero articulated, his matter-of-fact tone calming the fears of the group. Or so Kaye thought.

"That is a horrible idea, Batero," The human Rona said, followed by murmurs of agreement from Theto and Oldroyd.

"Well, there is one flaw in my plan." Batero admitted.

"Oh? And what part would that be?" Theto inquired, his antennae stalks twitching in agitation.

"My ship doesn't have the ability to make the jump to hyperspace. Wasn't designed for that kind of travel. So, before we go forward, I am going to need someone to acquire a custom hyperspace drive. And also, in case anyone forgot, a replacement for my arm. Neither have to be fancy, though I do stress that the hand have five digits, one of which is an opposable thumb."

The group seemed to collectively sigh, resigned to Batero's apparently awful strategy.

"Very well, we will make the necessary preparations. Before we adjourn this meeting—" TC began, stopping as a Geonosian entered the room, its feet clacking upon the smooth floor. It stopped next to Theto, speaking low in its native tongue.

Batero winked at Kaye who quickly looked away, slightly embarrassed. Eventually the others would realize that Kaye was manipulating their emotions, the true cause of their perpetual discord and abnormally abrupt acquiescence. Batero making faces at her wasn't helping. But at least this meeting was drawing to a close and hopefully the last time Kaye would have to use her abilities on them. They were very good people, they just often needed a nudge or a prod in the right direction— Batero's plans, though markedly harebrained, very rarely failed.

A cold breeze seemed to blow into the room. A familiar chill. Kaye looked at Batero, who suddenly sat up straight, alert. He sensed it too. Before Theto had said anything, they already knew.

"The Empire is here," Theto breathed, standing from his chair and frantically wringing his rough cerulean hands.

"We must flee," He said, walking briskly towards the door.

"Theto— the Empire is right outside this room." Batero warned, grabbing his shoulder to stop him.

"And Inquisitor Ramt is with them," Kaye added, pulling her pistol from its holster on her thigh.

"Theto—ask the bug if there's another way out of here." Batero said, slowly pulling his sling off with Beam's help and unclipping his laser sword from his belt, spitting his eighth streamer to the floor. He gripped the hilt tightly in his bandaged left hand—at least he hadn't lost his sword arm, for which Kaye was grateful.

Theto began to speak with the Geonosian, both of them exchanging words that reminded Kaye of the sound of engine fluids, all that hissing and gurgling. Theto nodded and turned to the frightened members of Death's Bane.

"He has agreed to hide us within the catacombs and asks that we follow him closely. Let's hurry." The Geonosian clicked towards the far wall opposite the door and disappeared behind one of the pillars, the others following suit. TC-93 was the last to follow, having pulled their plans from the holotable into his data files. Kaye and Batero stayed behind, eyes locked on the door, waiting.

The door lifted open as two stormtroopers came rushing in, their blasters raised as an imposing Chiss man strode into the room between them, clad in a dark tunic and boots. The silver hilt of a laser sword gleamed next to his waist. His red eyes narrowed as he regarded them.

"I told you I would find you," Ramt hissed through his sharp ivory teeth, contrasting with his brilliant sapphire skin. He unclasped his weapon from his belt and ignited the burning garnet blade.

"And now I will kill you."

Kaye fired off three shots, dropping both stormtroopers and blasting the opening mechanism for the door, which clanged shut behind Ramt.

Ramt smiled.

"Clever girl," He mused as he dashed towards Batero with impossible speed, his crimson blade smashing into Batero's green, who actually looked bored.

"Go help the others," Batero ordered, looking over at her. Kaye nodded, running towards the pillar where the others had disappeared. She took one last look as Batero and Ramt begin to duel in earnest, their laser swords sparking and hissing as they swung, slashed and parried. She smiled as Batero slashed a scar into Ramt's arm.

As she turned to run into the darkness she felt an impossibly powerful force lift her off the ground, send her sailing backwards through the air and slam her back into the hard rock wall. She fell several meters in a heap, her body aching. Thankfully, she hadn't changed out of her armor.

Ramt had become more powerful—last time they had met he had barely been able to use the Force to stop a small boulder from crushing his head.

"Kaye!" Batero yelled, slamming his blade into Ramt's, who buckled slightly under the force of the swing. Ramt retreated a few steps back, regaining his stance. Batero kept his blade pointed at him as he walked over to Kaye.

"Are you all right?" He asked, worry lining his face as he looked at her.

"Don't worry about me—just make sure you don't lose your other arm," Kaye grimaced.

Batero nodded, flexing his arm. Kaye could hear his broken bones pop. He hid it well, but Kaye felt how much pain he was in. He wouldn't be able to defeat Ramt, not this time. But Kaye hoped Batero could hold him long enough for someone to rescue them.

She activated the homing beacon on her belt and immediately winced as pain flared up her spine. She realized her back might be severely strained and settled back down as gently as she could, the dusty floor cool on her cheek. She turned her attention back to Batero and Ramt, who had resumed their fight, furiously striking at each other.

Batero held his blade lightly yet firmly, the signature grip of the Makashi fighting form. Batero was a master of Makashi, making him a deadly opponent to any other swordsman but an easy target to anyone with a rifle. Inquisitor Ramt used an aggressive version of Soresu. It had no weaknesses, as Soresu was a purely defensive style—and with the addition of several offensive thrusts, Ramt was a formidable foe.

Then there was the fact Ramt could use the Force—and Batero couldn't. Batero grunted as Ramt Force-pushed the holotable to slam into him, the blow only slightly lessened by Batero slicing the table in half with his emerald blade. Dust hung heavy in the room, kicked up by the two duelists as Ramt thrust at Batero's chest who batted it away and then swung from the side which Ramt ducked, slashing his blade upwards.

Batero cried out in pain as Ramt's ruby blade seared his torso in a vicious uppercut, leaving a blackened scar from his waist to his shoulder. He dropped to the ground, his sword clattering to the floor, automatically deactivating. Ramt Force-pushed him across the floor until he crashed into the wall, which cracked from the force of the impact.

"Pathetic," Ramt spat, turning his attention towards Kaye.

She had definitely chosen the wrong time to attempt manipulating the Chiss' emotions.

He stepped towards her, leveling his fiery blade to point ominously at her chest.

An enormous explosion shook the entire room, harsh sunlight spilling in from the suddenly shattered ceiling. Ramt looked up, his red eyes squinting in the light, Force-shoving the falling debris aside. Kaye took her chance and shot him in the chest point-blank with her pistol. He immediately dropped, his chest smoking.

 _Mynock's Maw_ descended through the opening, hovering just above the floor. Kaye began to painfully crawl her way to the gunship's open doors. She saw Batero slowly stand and make his way toward the opposite side of the gunship, both of them eventually clambering onto the comfortingly frigid metal floor of the gunship's bay.

The doors shrieked closed and the gunship launched into the air, rapidly heading for the stars.

"We will be docking in Bay Three of _Dragon Eye_ within a few moments." TC-93 chirped through the speakers. Kaye could hear the distant scream of TIE fighters.

"We have got to stop escaping like this," Batero muttered, a bloodied smile on his lips.

"Let's just finish this damn job," Kaye mumbled, succumbing to sleep to escape the growing pain in her back.


	3. Chapter 3

Kaye and Oldroyd stopped beside a small stream within the lush, misty forest of Alderaan. It gurgled happily along as they splashed through as quietly as they could muster, the enshrouded imposing metal wall of an Imperial compound looming above the trees. They came upon a clearing thick with white, swirling fog where a solid door sat within the compounds wall, two stormtroopers in their stark-white armor standing erectly on either side, blasters at the ready.

Oldroyd glanced at Kaye and gave her a toothy, reassuring smile. Though Oldroyd had fangs, not teeth.

 _A 'fangy' smile_? Kaye mused.

Kaye pulled her rifle from off her shoulders and crouched down behind a thick tree laden with vines. She steadied her breathing as she and Oldroyd pulled the smoke bombs from their belts and lobbed them into the clearing, where they landed silently in the wet grass.

The stormtroopers' visors would cut through the fog and smoke, but the security feed installed above the narrow door would be completely blinded. For good measure, Kaye also reached out mentally and tugged on the guards' exhaustion and boredom, the pair visibly relaxing.

This next part had to be done quickly.

As Oldroyd took out of his duffel a black circular device and deftly threw it into the clearing, Kaye had her rifle at the ready. The long barrel lined up with the unlucky stormtrooper on the left, who suddenly collapsed, his auditory sensors being overloaded by Oldroyd's gadget.

Kaye shot him through the neck as he fell and immediately aimed for the other stormtrooper, burning a hole through his neck as well.

"Nice aim," Oldroyd grunted as he switched off his device and moved into the open, the bombs still silently pouring smoke into the air. He stepped over to one of the fallen troopers and kicked the corpse in the head. Kaye heard a sickening snick as the guards neck separated completely from his body.

"I'll go on ahead to the security room—you stay here and take care of these bodies. You might want to use the stormtroopers armor in case any patrols pass by." Oldroyd suggested, punching in the entry code on the door panel. The door beeped and slid open, revealing a dark interior lit solely by red-orange lights on the grated floor.

"They'll be suspicious regardless, there's supposed to be more than just one guard. You probably just miscounted because you didn't help take them out." Kaye responded, shouldering her rifle, leaning her armored body against the wall. Besides, the armor was fitted for men—her figure was a little too feminine to hide; but Oldroyd wouldn't understand that.

"Besides, this thing wouldn't fit under their helmets," Kaye added, tugging at the voice emitter around her neck.

Oldroyd gave her another predatory smile and then disappeared into the shadowy interior of the stronghold as the door slid back shut. The bombs finally ran out of smoke and the area cleared of mist as the bright yellow morning sun of Alderaan burned them away. Kaye let out a deep breath in an attempt to ease her growing anxiety. The sun climbed higher into the perfectly clear azure sky, the foliage a bright, vivid green. It was picturesque, like the dreams Kaye used to have as a child that made her so happy.

Her inadvertently obsessive rubbing of her comlink brought her back to the present, away from the approaching thoughts of the darkness that had been her later years of childhood. As Alderaan's sun neared its zenith Kaye couldn't sit still any longer. She activated her comlink, waiting for the initial static to clear.

"Batero, Oldroyd has been in there for a long time. I think this was a mistake." Kaye muttered, anxiously hovering near the door, unsheathing her blaster pistol from her hip holster.

"Trust in the Force," Batero crackled in response, his subsequent laughter echoing off the metal defenses.

"This plan will work, Kaye, I'm sure of it." Batero asserted.

"It'd better. And for the last time, stop making jokes about the Force. We're not Jedi anymore, we had the time to develop actual senses of humor." Kaye said with a smile, her anxiety considerably lessening.

"Ouch," Batero retorted, switching off his comlink, pitchy static replacing his smooth baritone voice.

Kaye kept smiling as her worries faded away. Batero always had that effect on her. One day she would tell him how she felt, feelings she kept secret ever since she had locked eyes with him decades ago, in the Jedi temple on Coruscant.

Yet she couldn't ever muster the courage. Her anxiety started to return as she acknowledged that ever since being drummed out of the Jedi Order and suffering through the subsequent horrors of Corellia's slums, she didn't fully trust Batero. Despite her infatuation, she wasn't entirely blind. She had known plenty of men who carried the same mysterious darkness, but had hearts of gold.

They were all monsters. Monsters that haunted her still. Though the sun warmed her Kaye shivered, her mind traveling a familiar dark road. If Batero ever found out what she had experienced, would he leave her out of disgust? Or would he attempt to treat her the way those awful men treated her, that terrified her even now? Or what if…

Kaye widened her eyes in realization, burying her previous musings deep within her mind— reverting her thoughts to ponder the rules of sabacc; an old Jedi technique for blocking telepathy.

Someone was manipulating her emotions through the Force.

Oldroyd was in danger.

Kaye placed her comlink back in her belt and brought her pistol up to the side of her head, her other hand keying in the entry code. Her plan was to find Oldroyd and to get him out alive. Abort the mission if they must, but they couldn't lose their weapons supplier. The fact that they were using him at all testified to the importance and the danger of this mission.

For despite his importance to their cause, he was the only one of Death's Bane who had participated as a soldier in the Clone Wars—and he had fought and defeated both Republic and Confederate forces. He was a master warrior. The kind of person you needed when the man with the laser sword was incapacitated.

The solid door slid open once more, the darkness of the interior seeming to draw closer to her. She shuddered, a familiar cold sensation sliding down her spine and resting in the small of her back. She hadn't felt such fear, anger and pain since…

She had to find Oldroyd. Plunging into the shadows, Kaye raced down the corridors by the faint illumination that the lights on the floor offered her. The grated floor clanged underneath her thick boots, her armor rustling conspicuously in the eerie silence.

On and on she ran, that awful old feeling growing stronger. She ran faster despite knowing she was sprinting straight into a trap. She had to save Oldroyd, no matter what else happened. Then a sound made her skid to a stop and her heart to start racing.

The laborious breathing she heard in her nightmares. The hiss of Darth Vader. A laser sword ignited behind her, casting a crimson hue around her that seemed to be swallowed up in the growing darkness. She turned around and beheld the terrible sight of Vader, his breastplate a dull silver, his billowing cloak as black as night as he raised his weapon to strike her down.

Too scared to scream, Kaye dashed away from Vader, firing a volley of white-hot laser bolts at his menacing mask, an obvious homage to some Sith monstrosity. The bolts seared through Vader's helmet, which erupted into black smoke. Kaye halted in confusion as his entire intimidating frame melted into the dark cloud that pervaded the corridor.

Another figure emerged from the shadows, holding a simple red blade at his side and showing his brilliant white fangs that glared in contrast to his sapphire skin and trimmed ebony hair.

"A wonderful trick, is it not?" Inquisitor Ramt asked, taking another step towards Kaye, swinging his sword ominously.

"How did you survive? I shot you!" Kaye breathed, leveling her pistol to aim at Ramt's head.

The Inquisitor's blood-red eyes narrowed in defiance as he took another step closer to her, causing her to take a step back, her aim unwavering.

"The Empire is more powerful than you will ever comprehend, Miss Sanow," Ramt hissed, lunging towards her and then swatting away her sudden flurry of lasers into the walls, where they sparked and smoked. Kaye swung her free fist towards Ramt and connected with his open gloved palm, which closed around her clenched hand and pulled her close as he brought the butt of his blade's hilt to smash into her mouth, knocking her down in a spray of fresh blood.

Her own blood and pain blinding her, she staggered to her feet as she felt Ramt's blistering blade slice through her armor, stopping a mere fingerbreadth from her exposed hunched back. She screamed as she felt her skin burn away, her muscles recoiling with mind-numbing spasms as she collapsed awkwardly to the cold grated floor face first, the chill stinging her smeared cheek.

"Pathetic," Kaye heard Ramt mutter as he put the cold toe of his polished boot firmly on her voice emitter. The contraption cracked and buckled under the weight, cutting off her air supply. As she began to asphyxiate, she tried to bring her hands up to her neck but realized she couldn't feel them. She couldn't feel anything below her neck.

Ramt had severed her spine—she was paralyzed, doomed to die a slow, excruciating death. Ramt rolled her over onto her back with his boot, his face beaming with malice as he stared down at her rage-filled eyes brimming with hot tears.

"Now I will watch you die," Ramt whispered, deactivating his laser sword and clipping it to his belt. He seemed almost sad, in a way. He knelt down beside her, brushing her hair matted with blood away from her paling face, her voice an ethereal whine as her lungs burned for air. The darkness seemed to melt away, as did her pain and a familiar rushing noise filled her ears. Her vision swam as she consigned herself once again to death.

She forced her eyes to clear and gazed once more at Ramt's smooth, carved features. As she lay dying, she had a strange thought. She realized Ramt was a beautiful man. An evil Chiss man, but handsome nonetheless. Then she saw his head get whacked by a spherical blur of purple lightning, slamming him into the wall. Oldroyd stepped into her view, his fangs bared in feral fashion as he thrust his electric staff into the still dazed Ramt's face.

The force shattered Ramt's skull and his violet brain matter splattered the wall, the rest of his body slumping to the ground. Oldroyd stepped over to Kaye and stared down at her in fear, his head-tails a bright pink from adrenaline.

"Damn!" He cursed as he knelt down beside her, immediately tinkering with her broken voice emitter. Kaye could not force lucidity any longer and let her consciousness slip into darkness one more.

That is, if Oldroyd hadn't punched her squarely in the nose first.

Air rushed into Kaye's lungs and she breathed in frantically the sickly sweet smell of charred flesh.

"Kaye, it's all right, all right, just breathe," Oldroyd said as he helped her calm her breathing.

After a long moment, Kaye began to breathe normally. Then she looked around and realized that the corridors were stark white, brightly lit and numerous stormtroopers littered the floor, burn holes on their breastplates from Oldroyd's electrostaff.

"Why is it so bright in here?" Kaye asked out loud.

"What do you mean?" Replied Oldroyd.

"It was just black as space not a moment ago!"

"No, it wasn't, Kaye. I think someone used your Jedi magic on you, it was like you were in a trance." Oldroyd said.

How did Ramt become so powerful so quickly? Kaye wondered.

"And sorry about hitting you. You were just thrashing around so terribly I couldn't think how else to make you stop," Oldroyd added in apology.

So not only had Ramt tricked her senses into seeing mists of darkness and Darth Vader, he had manipulated her so well she truly felt it when he paralyzed her and broke her breathing apparatus.

But he hadn't done any of that. In fact, Ramt's headless body was nowhere to be seen, though there was a headless stormtrooper bleeding out through his gaping neck.

"Was he kneeling next to me?" Kaye asked, pointing to the decapitated trooper.

Oldroyd nodded.

"He seemed to be in a trance, too. Figured I should kill him, but it didn't stop you from shaking."

So Ramt had used a proxy as well. He had been able to adapt the illusion to mirror the reality without a moment's notice. That was a very powerful technique. Now that she knew what to expect, however—he wouldn't be able to trick her twice.

"Ramt is still alive, somehow—and he's here, somewhere. Let's hurry up and finish this gods-forsaken mission," Kaye muttered, trotting her way further into the base, Oldroyd close behind her.

As they made their way to the supply dock, Kaye couldn't help noticing how many stormtroopers were strewn about the floors.

"Did you happen to count them?" Kaye joked.

"When you've killed as many men as I have, you don't count the soldier—you count the number of people they've left behind," Oldroyd replied somberly.

Kaye stopped smirking at once. She should have been more tactful.

"I'm so sorry, Oldroyd. I didn't mean to upset you."

Oldroyd nodded with the same somber expression, then burst out in uproarious laughter.

"Kaye, I was a mercenary during the Clone Wars—I truly don't think about things like that, I just wanted to see if I could rattle a Jedi's nerves." Oldroyd explained through his feral grin.

"Congratulations," Kaye grumbled begrudgingly.

Oldroyd's smile grew wider. He let out a contented sigh.

"Honestly, I love killing people," Oldroyd admitted matter-of-factly, crouching down to open a panel filled with wires as they stopped before the door that led to the supply grounds.

"That's comforting," Kaye said, a slight shiver of fear tickling her spine. Bloody Twi'lek lunatic.

"There we go," Oldroyd said as the door slid open, shoving the tangled mess of wires back inside the wall panel, slamming it closed.

Kaye and Oldroyd stepped out into the clearing and Kaye frowned in dismay.

There were thousands of supply crates, thousands. It would take months to move all of these offworld by gunship.

"How in the Emperor's sacred name are we going to steal all of this?" Kaye hissed to herself.

"I don't know, it's your boyfriend's plan," Oldroyd said, stepping towards the closest crate.

"I wasn't talking to you," Kaye mouthed mockingly at him behind his back. She walked over to the crate left of Oldroyd.

"I heard that, too." Oldroyd called out absentmindedly, activating his crate's interface.

Bloody Twi'lek, Kaye cursed at him in her head. She too activated the interface of the crate before her, deftly accessing its repulsorlift systems. As it lifted off the ground and hummed at a short hover, Kaye decided to access the crate's inventory.

As she scrolled through lists of foodstuffs and a wonderful variety of medicinal vials, she noticed that there was one item listed as miscellaneous. Except that under the miscellaneous section nothing appeared. Interesting.

"What are you doing?" Oldroyd hissed slowly as Kaye jumped onto the side of the crate, clambering her way to the top to reach the access hatch. She pulled on a lever and a small hole dilated open next to it. Peeking inside the opening, she initially noted that everything was in order and that, in fact, there were only medical and food supplies inside.

But then she found it. Sitting atop one of the crates of medicine sat a squat, black object. It resembled the shape of a Star Destroyer but oblong. It wasn't much larger than Kaye's rifle and fortunately, it was within arms' reach.

Kaye stuck her right arm down the hole and stretched for the strange object, feeling oddly drawn to it.

"What are you doing?" Oldroyd repeated. Kaye ignored him as she continued to reach for the mysterious item.

"Almost… Got it!" Kaye said as her gloved hand wrapped around the object.

A powerful current like fire surged through her body at once and darkness suddenly overwhelmed her.


	4. Chapter 4

Kaye awoke lying on gentle, trimmed dark grass. A gnarled mauve tree stood before her, a dull grey boulder sitting under its many branches. All around her the sky shone with billions of bright stars and thousands of vivid cosmic strata, as if she were on a flat platform sitting in the middle of space.

She swore vociferously to no one in particular. She was getting tired of losing consciousness—and it was happening much too often lately. Begrudgingly she admitted to herself she was getting old, reaching up to her neck to absentmindedly readjust her voice emitter.

Kaye's thin pale fingers met nothing but air and she slowly realized that all of her aches and pains were mysteriously gone.

Kaye bolted upright when she realized she was stark naked. Her long auburn hair streamed down to her waist and her pale skin shone faintly by the lights of the galaxy. She turned to look back at the tree and saw that a long, flowing sapphire robe now hung in its twisted brambles.

She quickly dressed, cinching the robe tightly around her waist, self-conscious about how much of her chest and legs still showed. Though she supposed she was all alone, wherever she was. The burning question in her mind was if she was dead or not. She sat down on the surprisingly comfortable boulder, gazing across the small clearing where she had been laying earlier.

A man with skin as solid black as space itself sat cross-legged at the other end of the clearing, his skin sparkling as if the stars themselves peppered his features. He slowly stood and walked towards her in silence, stopping in the middle of the clearing. Though the strange man was naked and possessed a strong, muscled frame he bore no genitalia. Inexplicably this made Kaye feel better about her own immodesty.

"I find your presence here… fortuitous," The being boomed, his soft voice sounding warped and impossibly deep. He exuded a presence through the Force so powerful that Kaye began to fear him; what did he want with her?

Who was this man?

"I am… Wiles. Yes, that is my name. You are Kaye." Wiles rumbled, answering her unasked question. He stepped closer to her, stopping just in front of her. She grasped the top of her thin robe closed to cover her cleavage and closed her connection to the Force.

"Do not be afraid, Kaye. I simply need to know." He outstretched his long right arm, his obsidian hand clenched in a gentle fist, his extended index finger nearly touching her exposed forehead.

"Need to know what?" Kaye asked, her heart starting to pump faster as fear crept into her voice.

Wiles parted his black lips into a reassuring smile as brilliant and white as Tattoine's second sun. Inexplicably through the Force, Kaye felt a massive wall of calm overwhelm her senses, smashing her fear down.

Despite an overwhelming sensation of complete bliss, Kaye still noted that somehow this man, Wiles, had been able to reconnect her to the Force against her will as easily as a pilot activated his ship's hyperdrive. Not good.

"Are you the one I seek?" Wiles answered quietly, pressing his finger softly against her brow. Suddenly an impossibly powerful current of energy like fire surged through her body as he touched her and Kaye collapsed into darkness, overwhelmed yet again.

… _Kaye groaned in frustration as the training probe zapped her once again, its weak laser singing her Jedi training tunic and slightly burning her skin. She swung viciously with her training blade at the blasted floating orb but it danced cheerily out of her reach, zapping her again on her thigh._

" _Spawn of a protocol droid!" She cursed, her child's voice not strong enough to be heard above the vibrant blue hum of her laser sword._

" _A problem, Padawan Sanow?" Master Ki-Adi Mundi squatted down next to her, laying a large coarse hand on her singed shoulder. She fought the urge to wince. Master Mundi raised his hand and through the Force deactivated her training probe, which dropped to the marble floor with a dull thud._

 _Kaye felt even more frustrated than before. She was seven years old and still was laser sword training with a probe. The rest of the Padawans her age were beginning to duel with each other, to learn advanced combat forms and styles—why couldn't she accomplish even the simplest task? All she needed to do was deflect one shot—just one—and she had been promised she could move on._

 _Master Mundi still had his hand on her shoulder. She petulantly shrugged him off and deactivated her laser sword, letting it drop to the floor with a metallic clang._

" _I can't do it, Master. I'm not good enough." She sniffled a little as she vigorously rubbed her forearm against her nose._

 _Master Mundi stayed silent for a moment, then rose to his full stature. Through the Force he pulled her training probe from the floor and into the palm of his right hand, where he regarded it with expressionless eyes._

 _He turned to her, the kind twinkle of a smile in his gray eyes._

" _Come with me, Padawan. I think there is someone who can help."_

 _Master Mundi walked towards the far end of the training chamber, where the more advanced students sparred. Kaye quickly dashed to stay close behind him, pattering along the cool floor with her soft-soled boots._

 _They walked until they reached the very end of the training chamber, where large circular pits filled with sand sat on either side of them. The sand was for sparring and the narrow strips of marble that encircled the pits were for spectators._

 _Kaye was confused. She had never been this far into the training chamber before, but even she knew this was where Jedi Knights sparred. She couldn't even deflect a blaster bolt, as her still smoking clothes attested. Why was she here?_

" _His name is Batero Vittornci." Master Mundi muttered to her, pointing with his incredibly long fingers at a boy no older than five who stood in the pit to their right, holding a laser sword that gleamed like sapphire in his left hand._

 _Across from him stood Aayla Secura. Kaye couldn't believe it. Secura was a Jedi Knight, a powerful one. Why was she about to spar with this… toddler?_

 _The sparring match lasted only a short while, but Kaye finally understood why Secura had been chosen to duel this little boy._

 _The child was a prodigy._

 _He had been remarkable. As soon as Secura had ignited her azure blade he had begun his ferocious attack, feinting and slashing and parrying with an energy and an intelligence that defied his exceedingly young age. At times it seemed that Secura was truly having trouble matching the boy blow for blow._

 _However, the match ended with her the victor. Her experience and size gave her an advantage the boy Batero couldn't surpass. But as she stomped off to the washroom, it was clear that Batero wasn't exactly the loser. He was only a child and had held his own against a well-accomplished Jedi Knight. Kaye was in awe._

 _Batero still stood in the sand-filled ring, his laser sword still thrumming in his hand. He was panting and sweating profusely but continued to stand until his panting lessened and the sweat began to visibly stiffen his clothing. He deactivated his sword at last and stepped out of the pit, straight towards Master Mundi and Kaye._

 _He stopped to stand right in front of Master Mundi and looked up at him, his long dark bangs covering his eyes._

" _You wanted to see me, Master Mundi?" He asked. Kaye noted he very much sounded like a little boy. Then, to her slight embarrassment, Master Mundi wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her over to stand between him and the Batero boy. Batero regarded her through his thick wet hair._

" _I want you to train Padawan Sanow here in Jedi combat. She needs an excellent teacher. A teacher I see you becoming." Master Mundi said. Batero continued to watch Kaye for a silent moment._

" _Master Li Sross will continue her other Jedi training, of course," Master Mundi added._

" _I will train her," Batero finally said. He then bowed in respect to Master Mundi, who surprisingly returned the gesture. With a smile, Master Mundi walked away from the two of them, leaving them in a moment of uncomfortable silence._

" _So…" Batero began, clearly unsure what to say. Kaye had to remind herself that despite his combat prowess he was still a little boy._

" _So you're to help me become a Jedi," Kaye finished for him, flashing an encouraging smile._

 _He smiled back, brushing the hair out of his eyes._

 _For a moment Kaye forgot where she was. She was frozen in place as she shamelessly stared at Batero's eyes. They were the richest green and brown eyes she had ever seen, like a lush forest that had been marred into a mesmerizingly exotic cosmos. She imagined that at the Core of the Galaxy there was a place as beautiful as this boy's eyes._

" _Er… Where is your weapon?" Batero asked, visibly uncomfortable with Kaye staring at him._

 _His question snapped Kaye back to reality and she felt her face burn for more reasons than the fact that she had left her training blade behind._

" _I'll be right back!" She yelled back at him as she sped back to her training area, hiding her increasingly reddening face…_

… _Kaye closed her deep blue eyes as silent tears slid down her face. She stood alone in the center of a cylindrical room. Surrounding her were everyday objects, varying in size: a deactivated training probe, a small blaster pistol, the hilt of a double-bladed laser sword, a large stone replica of the Jedi Temple and nearly scraping the high ceiling, an upright slab of frozen carbonite._

 _None of them had moved. She would be a Jedi no more._

 _The door behind her slid open and Master Mundi stepped in, took her gently by her thin, eight-year old arm and led her outside to her Master, Li Sross. Master Li had a sympathetic smile on her face as she knelt down, the trousers she wore under her robes slightly showing, sporting their bright orange Corellian bloodstripes._

 _"You did your best, young one," Li cooed as she brushed at Kaye's tears with her long pale fingers._

 _Sniffing, Kaye turned and looked up at Master Mundi, who also wore an encouraging smile._

 _"How bad was it?" Kaye asked in a voice so mature it often startled those who first met her; Corellians matured early, even for humans._

" _Well, the emotion control test was your highest mark, almost enough to balance out your abysmal scores in well, everything else," Master Mundi said as he stroked his thin white beard. His kind did not mince words. Kaye liked that about him, although she did start crying again._

 _Finally, she asked, "So what happens now? Can I see Batero?"_

 _Kaye saw Master Mundi's mouth move but heard no sound and her vision suddenly blurred…_

… _She splashed into the grimy puddles of the cobbled streets of her home planet Corellia, torrential rain pounding on her young body, her simple tunic and stockings smattered with black from the mud. She turned around to see Master Sross walking back up the starship's landing ramp as it retracted back into the ship, the ship lifting off the ground. Within moments the ship was a mere speck in the distant grey sky, only visible by the blue fire of its engines._

 _Kaye realized that she had begun crying again when a gut-wrenching sob escaped her lips as she knelt cold and alone in the empty street. As the rain continued to roar Kaye splashed her way under a nearby dilapidated building with a rusted roof._

 _Although it was only midday on Corellia, Kaye knew she needed to find dependable shelter and a place to find food soon. Years ago, back before Master Sross had first found her, she had lived on these same streets. Returning had been Kaye's worst nightmare and it had come true._

 _Still, the reality of her situation could not be helped. Although she had once roamed these slums, four years was still a long time and even in an area so abandoned places and people could change. Hopefully Nana Grimbley was still alive._

 _Kaye, straining her memory to remember, began to trudge her way underneath adjoining roofs, dashing quickly through the gaps that were filled with the deafening downpour towards Nana Grimbley's old spot._

 _Nana Grimbley always set up shop on the corner of a once-busy thoroughfare, right underneath a bright pink sign that advertised Kowakian monkey lizards. Kaye desperately hoped she hadn't died or been killed. She did live on the streets, after all._

 _It took a shorter time than she remembered but she saw the familiar old pink sign and smelled the familiar moldy weeks-old grain that Nana Grimbley sold. It surprised her how much better that rotten odor made her feel. She stopped right under the large pink sign and saw the reassuring sight of old Nana Grimbley, still peddling her expired foodstuffs._

 _Kaye slowly approached Nana Grimbley, waiting for a couple of street urchins to finish their transactions with her before walking up to her. When she did, Nana Grimbley stared at her with those same wizened eyes that Kaye saw sometimes in nightmares. She fought the urge to shudder. She needed Nana Grimbley's help._

" _Nana Grimbley? Do you remember me?" Kaye timidly asked._

 _Nana Grimbley narrowed her eyes as she continued to stare at her. Kaye felt slightly uncomfortable as Nana Grimbley stared at different parts of her body._

" _Can't say that I do, girly," Nana Grimbley finally croaked, closing her wares and tucking them all into a thin case she shoved into the mounds of old grey cloth that sat upon her ancient, gnarled body._

" _But how about you come inside here for a moment, and we can have a little chat?" Nana Grimbley suggested, hobbling over to the door of the establishment from which hung the monkey lizard advertisement. A thick black cloth had been hung in the doorway and Nana Grimbley held it up with her spindly arms, gesturing for Kaye to enter with her rather prominent chin._

 _Kaye's stomach growled as she considered her options. Really, she had no choice and Nana Grimbley had been kind to her before. She doubted that this old lady had turned into a child-eating monster. It didn't help that Kaye had had numerous nightmares of such an occurrence, though._

 _Shaking her head as if to clear her thoughts, Kaye stepped under the thick dark cloth and inside the dank, poorly lit building. It was a relief to be out from under the rain. As Kaye's eyes adjusted to the lighting, she noticed that there were already two women sitting in crude makeshift chairs on the opposite side of the room. As her eyesight normalized she realized the women were eyeing her the same way Nana Grimbley had been earlier._

 _"Here, dearie, let's clean you up," Nana Grimbley mumbled behind her, the other two women making their way over to Kaye, pulling out vials of water and clean grey cloth._

 _"Let's get you out of those dreadfully wet clothes, girl, and then we can share a warm meal," Mumbled one of the other women as they washed her legs and feet. Kaye had finished scrubbing her face and let Nana Grimbley pull her soaked tunic off her body._

 _"Then we must make sure we are presentable for our guests," Muttered the third woman as they helped Kaye put on a very pretty blue dress. It didn't cover her lower torso and was tight in the chest, but the thin tassels that made up her gown sparkled even in the dim light. The three women quickly began to brush a variety of sweet-smelling powders against Kaye's face, lips and body and then stepped back collectively, all smiling warmly at her._

 _"Let's eat, shall we?" Nana Grimbley happily squawked as they all shuffled towards an old turbolift that sat conspicuously in the corner of the room. Once they all stepped onto the steel platform Nana Grimbley pressed the button and they shot up quickly upwards, through the roof of the building and into the Corellian sky._

 _The sun was already beginning to set. Kaye marveled at the colors of the sunset that streaked across the skies. It was a comforting, happy sight. Kaye smiled, holding back tears of relief. She would be okay here._

 _The beautiful view disappeared as the turbolift entered into another building. Kaye could tell from the walls surrounding them that it was much nicer than the building they had left. Finally the lift came to a close. The four women exited and the three elder led Kaye through a long, narrow corridor with doors spaced every few meters apart on the walls._

 _They walked for a short while until stopping at one of the doors on the left wall. It hissed open as Nana Brimley pressed her long, bony fingers against a soft blue panel. The three women shooed Kaye through the doorway. It appeared to be a bedroom, with a large luxurious bed in the corner and a table full of fresh food and drink to the side._

 _Kaye smiled. This would be just fine._

 _She turned to thank Nana Brimley but the door slid shut. Just as soon as the door shut, another door slid open on the opposite side of the room, from which emerged an older gentleman who was clothed in a luxurious green robe._

 _The man regarded her for a moment and then smiled in a way that scared Kaye. He pulled a long thin strip of coarse material from within his robe and undid the clasp of his clothing, revealing his naked body to her._

 _A horrible, sinking feeling overwhelmed Kaye and tears of anger, fear and shame began to stream hotly down her face._

 _"My name is Yoong Kess," The man said in a slightly tinny voice._

 _"But for tonight, my sweet, you shall call me Master…"_

… _Kaye was wearing a stunning emerald dress, the sleeves not quite reaching her wrists, the skirt slit up the sides to her thighs to increase mobility and accentuate her desirable features—Senator Kess was a horridly lecherous man. She did wear her thick, wavy hair in a tight, conservative bun to offset her form-fitting clothing. Her smooth hands she kept forcibly clasped in her lap as she sat in Corellia's seat within the Galactic Senate, only two bodyguards and her assistant TC-93 with her on the circular platform; Kess had sent her, one of his several advisors, in his stead for this momentous meeting._

 _In the center of the Senate standing high upon the Supreme Chancellor's pedestal was Palpatine, his gnarled waxy hands outstretched above him as he proclaimed the Republic, which had stood for thousands of years, "…As the first Galactic Empire!"_

 _Screams of approval showered down upon him, his gleaming yellow eyes and teeth visible underneath his crimson hood. So much for diplomacy. So much for autonomy. So much for the Petition of the Two Thousand, the final attempt to resume negotiations with the Separatists._

 _The Jedi Order had failed, its members to be hunted down and brought to supposed justice under Palpatine's new order. Though it gave Kaye a perverse satisfaction to know that the Jedi and their condescending doctrine were being purged from the galaxy, she knew it was only a matter of time until a new institution was put into place. As the new Emperor spoke, she shivered in spite of herself. The balance had shifted from light into darkness. Wherever they were, those Sith had won. There was a shadow being cast across the galaxy, heralding the arrival of night—the Empire had been born._

 _"My Lady Kaye, are you all right?" Asked TC-93 with concern in his tinny voice, his opaque sky blue chassis glowing brightly as the lights dimmed, signaling the end of the meeting. Kaye wiped the hot tears from under her eyes and casually wiped her hands on her dress as she cleared her throat._

 _"Yes, TC. It's done, then," Kaye replied, waving her left hand vaguely towards the surrounding Senators as they departed, standing and sniffing as she did so._

 _It was time to start a new life once more._

 _"TC-93, prepare my ship to return to Corellia without me. Quickly, please." The four of them stepped out into the wide, curving corridor that connected their platform and several others to the enormous common meeting hall just inside the Senate's main doors. They walked briskly in that direction, passing the door that led to Kaye's consular ship._

 _"My Lady?" TC-93 inquired, cocking his gleaming head to the side, the corridor lights bouncing off the curious silver antenna on the right side of his roughly oval head. His titian eyes began to glow a soft red then a deep blue around their edges, then returned to normal. Kaye smiled, knowing her request had been fulfilled, despite TC's obvious reluctance. He had been more a friend to her than he even realized._

 _Final task, Kaye thought as she crossed off her mental list. "TC, please procure passage for one aboard the closest docked freighter heading to the Outer Rim." Now it was time to go._

 _"It is done, My Lady," Informed TC-93, who stepped and whirred closer to her as the bodyguards stepped through a huge clear door with a small gaggle of Senate officials as it slid open, stopping just outside. Coruscant air rushed in, the scent filling Kaye's mind with fond memories. The sweet tang from the thousands of fuel exhausts of busy people, the spicy meat from that little place down Level A-31 wafting along the walkway. Even the memories that weren't so fond, Kaye would miss this life. The grand door slid silently shut as Kaye lingered inside just a moment more, TC-93 looking at her with those round, innocent orange eyes._

 _One more thing, Kaye decided._

 _"Now, TC-93: 'Clan Kess drinks to the sun of blood. It will ever run across the skies.' Code 42173. Thank you, TC—for everything." She said softly, giving the protocol droid an awkward and quick hug as the coded command terminated his service to the senatorial delegates of Corellia._

 _TC-93 gave her a curt nod but said nothing. Kaye nodded in response and turned to exit the large door as a gruff voice crackled through a helmet speaker._

 _"Hey, you! Kaye Sanow!" A Senate guard ran down the steps to her, his white boots clacking loudly on the marbled stone. He said her name slowly, most likely reading it from the facial recognition database that would've popped up on his visor._

" _The Emperor has requested you attend a meeting in his offices immediately," The guard said, taking her firmly by the arm as he led her back up the steps to the Senate, leaving TC-93 behind._

 _Kaye felt something faint. A disturbance in the Force. She didn't get those very easily._

 _She had a bad feeling about this…_

 _…Kaye fought the urge to bend over, instead putting her hands on her hips as she attempted to catch her breath. She had a little time before she'd have to start running again. Sweat dripped off her nose and made her bare arms and legs slick, her long hair heavy on her neck._

 _She leaned against the cool stone of the dilapidated cottage as it began to rain again outside, her drenched shirt freezing pressed up between the wall and her back. She knew she was getting closer to port and hopefully to a quick ride off this jungle moon, but it wasn't her hope or her aching muscles alone that caused her to shake so badly. Someone was after her._

 _Thick green foliage surrounded her and healthy yellow dirt made a crude path through the wilderness, the cottage she hid within built upon it. She stole a quick glance around the wall down the path she came and froze, feeling blood draining from her face. Standing on that path several lengths from her was a man who towered over the native flora, his face covered in an intricate mask, his body entirely clad in thick black armor._

 _Even from this distance she could hear his haunted breathing and heard the rain sizzling as it struck his crimson laser sword, sending up trails of steam. She learned his name from a Sullustan who had helped her escape on Noon._

 _He was Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith._

 _He took a step towards her and she bolted out of the cottage down the path away from him, her body screaming at the sudden exertion. But she couldn't stop, she couldn't let him catch her. She would not become a Sith. It's why Vader was pursuing her, she had made her decision known. She would not serve the Empire._

 _That was why she had to die. Mud splattered her legs, branches and vines cut at her exposed skin as she sprinted down the path, pure terror slamming her heart against her chest. She saw what Vader had done to her friends. He never spoke, always killed. He did not hear screams for mercy, he did not stop for the cries of children. He was a dark fire, burning all who stood in his way._

 _Kaye had long ago abandoned any attempt to dissuade him through the Force. His anger had nearly incapacitated her and it only helped him find her. She had closed her connection to the Force to hide further from Vader._

 _The thick jungle and downpour of rain began to darken Kaye's vision, which prompted her to run harder. She could still hear Vader's breathing. She had to escape._

 _Kaye finally saw lights up ahead. It was the port, only a moment longer and she would rush out into that clearing, jump on the closest ship and sail away. As she leapt into the clearing, one last branch sliced her cheek, the hot sensation of blood forcing lucidity, despite her utter exhaustion._

 _What she saw in the clearing made her gasp in despair._

 _There were no ships, no people, nowhere to hide—only one Imperial shuttle, ready to be boarded. Vader had won._

 _Darth Vader stepped into the clearing, the torrential rain beating down on his glossy armor, his laser sword a shaft of furious pink steam. He took even, methodical steps towards Kaye, as if he were merely going to offer her a cordial handshake._

 _Kaye wanted to move but couldn't muster the energy. She had been running from him for nearly a year, almost from when she had first left Coruscant. He would kill her, here, on this exotic jungle moon called Dxun. A single tear streaked down her bleeding cheek as Vader raised his weapon to strike. She closed her eyes._

 _Then all hell broke loose._

 _A massive explosion knocked her to the muddy ground, the heat so intense her clothes smoked. She quickly rolled in the mud and got up, disoriented. Vader's shuttle had exploded, now a burning heap of metal and a ship roared above the clearing, firing intense green bolts from its cannons at Vader, who deftly dissipated each with a swing from his sword, though the concussive force still billowed his long cape and sank him further into the mud._

 _The ship above began to descend towards Kaye as it continued bombarding the Sith Lord. As it neared, Kaye recognized it as a Republic gunship, used in the early years of the Clone Wars. It had lost its gunner spheres and looked worse for wear, especially as its sliding doors screeched open._

 _Above the din, Kaye heard faintly the pilot yelling._

" _Get in!" She thought she heard._

 _She jumped aboard the gunship and the doors immediately screamed shut. Her stomach lurched as they abruptly ascended and felt the whole gunship shake as it fired missiles down below. The subsequent explosion roared above the cacophony and Kaye winced, plugging her ears._

 _The gunship continued to rapidly ascend and Kaye quickly found a seat on the wall and strapped herself in. She leaned her head back and took a deep breath. She was still shaking but began to stretch her arms and legs and that helped. She heard the roar of the engines slowly fall into silence as they broke atmosphere and entered the vacuum of space. She had escaped once again._

 _But who had rescued her?_

" _It is so good to see you again, Mistress Kaye." That voice._

 _Kaye opened her eyes and saw TC-93 standing in front of her, his body a glaring vermillion and his eyes a bright viridian. Kaye thought the color change suited him as she dashed out of her seat towards him, embracing him tightly. He awkwardly patted her on the back until she pulled away from him._

" _How did you find me, TC?" Kaye asked. She couldn't stop smiling._

" _Well, I have been searching for you ever since you left Coruscant, Miss—Kaye," TC corrected himself._

" _But I did have some help in finally finding you here—I'm so glad we got to you before that Darth Vader." Kaye could hear a tremble of fear as TC said the Sith Lord's name._

" _So who helped you rescue me?" Kaye asked, changing the subject._

 _As if to answer her question, the pilot came clambering into the bay, clad in Clone War-era pilot fatigues, even wearing the helmet._

" _I've set the autopilot for Slakk and from there we'll board a freighter headed to Geonosis. I know some good people there." His voice crackled through the helmet. He began to walk back towards the cockpit._

" _Who are you?" Kaye asked. His voice was familiar, but she couldn't place it._

 _Kaye saw him stiffen, as if offended, but he relaxed as he pulled his helmet off, sticking it in the crook of his arm. He had a wild mane of brown hair, a handsome face with a quick smile and a pair of piercing hazel eyes._

 _Kaye had never forgotten those eyes. The eyes of a boy she knew when she had been a Jedi._

" _Batero?" She breathed, not quite believing._

 _Batero grinned excitedly._

" _Wake up, Kaye, wake up."_


	5. Chapter 5

Kaye felt like she had been nearly drowned, how bad her muscles ached and her vision swam.

"So that is who you are," Mumbled Wiles in his impossibly deep timbre, kneeling above Kaye's slightly twitching body.

He walked out of her spinning vision but soon returned, all three visions of him brandishing a thin, long and gnarled branch from the tree towards her face.

"Eat, it will help," Wiles said, brushing the tip of the branch against her soft lips.

Struggling to stop her dizziness, Kaye managed to chomp off a sizeable amount of the root and forced it down. It burned her mouth terribly, it was so tart. However, it did immediately alleviate her dizziness, her surroundings becoming more level.

"Why can't I move," Kaye managed through the massive urge to swallow like mad.

"I do not wish for you to misunderstand my actions. I needed the answer to my question. The answer lay inside your mind, your memories; your life. Such an absolute probing of your mind leaves it weak. Your ability to move will soon return, but slowly." Wiles replied.

"Did you find your answer?" Kaye asked, her fingers curling into fists as she regained control.

They sat in silence a moment, Wiles right beside her, just staring out at the stars around them.

"You are the one I seek," Wiles said, turning to look at her with burning orange and cream eyes.

"What does that mean?" Kaye asked, curious.

"It means that I must accompany you back to your part of the universe, and aid you in whatever way I can," Wiles replied, standing up and then helping Kaye up from off the matted pile of grass.

"I will take you wherever in the galaxy you wish to go, just tell me where," Said Wiles, taking Kaye's pale hand in his, his ebony skin frigid.

"You should not doubt my powers, considering where you are and what you've seen me do," Added Wiles, before a sound had escaped Kaye's parting lips.

She grunted with slight consternation in response. Was Wiles truly this omniscient?

"Yes," Said Wiles.

Damn.

"All right, then. Take us back to Alderaan. We have to finish the mission and I need to make sure Oldroyd is okay." Kaye said, her thoughts racing as she remembered her place as a member of Death's Bane.

"No." Wiles said.

"No?" Asked Kaye incredulously. "Then why give me the option to go wherever I wish?"

"I cannot return there. There is a presence there that must not know that I exist. That's why I called you to me, to release me from that stone prison. I will not put my powers in the wrong hands." Wiles explained, a sudden light breeze rustling the grass, the tree and Kaye's thin robe and long hair.

"So you're an entitled slave?" Concluded Kaye, brushing her hair out of her face as the wind intensified.

Wiles shook his head. "A conscientious one."

"Kaye, I know more than you can ever hope to know. Trust me. You are worthy of my service. Use my powers." He pleaded.

"Can you at least transport Oldroyd and Batero somewhere else, like _Dragon Eye_?" Kaye inquired.

"Done," Wiles responded. "What about the shipment you meant to steal?"

"You can do that, too?" Kaye asked, amazed. Then she remembered as Wiles just looked at her.

"Oh, right—All-powerful being, I forgot," She muttered.

"Where am I sending the shipment?" Wiles asked as if this whole situation was totally ordinary. He actually sounded bored.

"Three places—Geonosis, Oppal and Tatooine. You'll have to divvy up the shipment into thirds."

"Geonosis and Oppal I have done, but Tatooine you must do. I have sent that shipment to _Dragon Eye_."

"Why not Tatooine? You have an old debt with the Hutts?" Kaye joked.

Batero just looked at her.

She was funny, blast it.

"No—I cannot use my powers there for the same reason I cannot use them on Alderaan. There are certain individuals in your galaxy that cannot know of me—they would seek to use me to ease their own destinies. Some of those people exist on Alderaan and Tatooine. You must understand. I am here only to help _you_." Wiles stressed.

"Why me? What's so special about me?" Kaye shouted, the wind around them a rushing roar.

The wind around them stopped, and the grass they stood on disappeared, the tree and stars faded away and they found themselves standing in the middle of _Dragon Eye_ 's bridge, Wiles clad in a thick white tunic, Kaye back in her shining titian armor.

"I already told you. You, out of the trillions of beings in your galaxy, are worthy of my help. That is not a trifling thing, I hope you understand." Wiles whispered as baffled bridge members contacted Death's Bane via their headsets, disbelieving stares fixed on her and Wiles.

Kaye looked out the viewport of the starship at the thousands of shimmering stars and planets before them, noting in her faint reflection that the scars and bruises that lately peppered her face were gone, her body miraculously restored to perfect health. All she ever wanted was to help others. The Jedi had offered her that opportunity and then took it away, as soon as they learned she was worthless as a Jedi. She was used by despicable men like Senator Kess for their own pleasure. The Empire sought to use her for their own gain.

She wanted to give of herself, but in her own way. The right way. Lately, it seemed so foolhardy, futile even. But with Wiles' help… She had a chance. They all did.

"I won't misuse your help," Kaye finally promised.

Wiles smiled. "I know you won't."


	6. Chapter 6

"Let me get this straight: so you touched this black stone, and now we have an ally so powerful he can defy the laws of space and time?" Batero asked hoarsely, his chapped lips beginning to bleed as he spoke for the first time in hours since they started their hike to Anchorhead through the Tatooine desert.

Kaye merely nodded in response, her neck aching from the weight of her sweat-soaked hair. She wore it long as a symbol, despite its impracticality. She was a Corellian, and Corellian women traditionally wore their hair long and unbound.

She glanced over at Oldroyd. He wore baggy beige trousers and thick black boots, but left his entire upper body uncovered, his head-tails draped down his muscular chest, his blood-red skin glistening with silver sweat. The dehydration made his strong frame bulge under the blistering heat of the planet's twin suns. He noticed her staring and grinned.

Slightly embarrassed, Kaye looked away and stole a quick glance at Batero. He, too had the idea to shed clothing, but realized he was too fair of skin for half-nudity. So he compromised by wearing dirt-brown trousers that were thinner than air, supple cloth wraps drenched in Devronian ice-water around his feet and a thin sleeveless top that exposed his massively muscular arms and sported a wide hood which shaded his scruffy face.

Kaye couldn't help but feel elated when she looked at Batero. Before they had set out from _Dragon Eye_ to deliver the supplies to their contacts in Mos Eisley, Wiles had taken the time to fully heal Batero of his wounds. To Kaye, that gift was immeasurable.

Batero had always been the muscle, the warrior, the hero. She and he had undertaken so many missions to further their organization's cause, and it was not fair to her mind that Batero had sustained so many injuries, even to the point of near incapacitation.

Oldroyd was an invincible, legendary warrior, Kaye admitted, the trio trudging on as the sands began to howl, the supplies safely kept in the hovering black crate humming along behind them; but Oldroyd was only just a warrior. Batero truly was a hero.

Kaye flashed a quick, reassuring grin at Batero and then refocused her attention on what lay before them, sand as far as the eye could see and an ever growing black spot known as Anchorhead in the distant horizon.

Tattoine nights, though devoid of the throbbing heat of the suns, did not enjoy a measurable cooling of the temperature. The nights also came fast, without much of a sunset.

"Should we make camp for the night?" Batero croaked, his body shaking from exhaustion. Or perhaps withdrawal, Kaye speculated as she had thrown away his entire supply of streamers before landing.

"That's a wise idea, Batero—very Jedi-like," Oldroyd hissed, his ivory fangs glinting in the blue light of Tattoine's night sky.

"What do you think?" Oldroyd asked Kaye.

"Considering you two have already sat down I don't think it very much matters what I think," Kaye retorted, slinging her pack off her shoulders and abruptly collapsing onto the soft, granulated sand. The three just laid there for a moment, simply staring at the stretch of stars and galaxies above them.

"Say what you will about this forsaken planet, but hell, that's a sight you don't always see," Batero mused.

Oldroyd began to cackle in laughter, and perhaps it was due to how exhausted she felt, but Kaye began to laugh along with him; it escalated into outright hysterics.

"Do you never look where you're flying, Batero?" Oldroyd spat out between ear-splitting fits of laughter.

"Hey, shut up real quick," Kaye said, suddenly sitting up, her eyes fixed on the faint humming emanating from somewhere out in the darkness.

Oldroyd continued to laugh, however—he stopped when Batero also got to his feet and threw a fistful of sand at his face. Spitting and growling, Oldroyd too rose and the three of them silently stared off into the dark desert, their muscles taut and adrenaline pumping.

The humming had grown louder and became a familiar screeching thrum. Imperial speeder bikes. Twelve of them, flanked by an Imperial transport. They were headed straight for the trio.

"Hold on," Batero muttered over the droning, turning his back to the approaching Imperials to look in the other direction. Kaye glanced back at him curious and noticed that there was a steady beat, similar to the Imperials but different, nearing them in that direction.

Kaye could just barely make out a silhouette, steadily gaining towards them. A sail barge, she judged.

"Jabba, stinking Hutt," Oldroyd snarled, brandishing his electric staff with a flourish as its ends sparked to life, spitting purple and white electric tendrils. The three moved as a group to the supply crate and Kaye clambered on to the top of the black structure, lying prone and priming her rifle, jamming the butt into her shoulder towards the Imperials. Oldroyd faced the incoming Hutts behind her in front of the supply crate alone— Batero stood in front of the crate beneath Kaye, his laser sword tightly gripped in his left hand but deactivated, a small laser pistol in his right aimed right in the middle of the approaching Imperial contingent.

The three of them waited a moment, frozen in their positions, until the telltale gleam of stormtrooper armor could be seen gliding towards them. Without speaking, they jumped into action to execute their unspoken plan.

Bright orange lances of energy spat from Kaye's rifle and bore smoking holes into six of the stormtroopers' chests, Batero firing his pistol repeatedly, the bolts flying to grant Kaye a small amount of cover fire. She aimed a bolt straight at one of the speeder bikes and the impending explosion took out three other stormtroopers.

Satisfied, Kaye rolled around to face Jabba's sail barge and beheld a dancing Oldroyd slamming his shock stick into squealing Gamorreans and hissing Weequays up onboard the deck of the sail barge, which had gotten much too close to their position. Kaye decided to be grateful that given the two large trails of smoke emanating from the deck, Oldroyd had disabled the barge's cannons. She cursed before she swung back around to face the Imperial forces—being the target of both the Empire and Jabba the Hutt did not bode well for anyone; it was only a matter of time until either side decided this was too large a hassle and just obliterated them.

Batero had done an excellent job in Kaye's absence—the only Imperial presence left was the thick-armored rectangular transport that already made its way to their clearing and had just unloaded its solo occupant.

Inquisitor Ramt's smile was visible even at night, his traditional black tunic swapped for a simple yet bulky gray robe as he approached Batero. Kaye felt a twinge of fear—she hoped Batero really was back to full health; Ramt had become incredibly powerful. For good measure, she aimed at Ramt's chest and moved to fire, then found that she could not move her entire body—she was frozen in place.

She saw Ramt's red eyes glint up at her and it dawned on her that he had immobilized her through the Force. She cursed inwardly, unable to speak.

Kaye looked on in growing apprehension as Ramt disrobed, revealing a perfectly smooth sapphire torso that rippled with muscles and a pair of simple black trousers and boots. Kaye was confused at how he had become so muscular in so short a time and how he bore no wound, no mark on his chest from where Kaye had shot him on Geonosis; despite the fact that such a shot should have killed him.

Ramt and Batero began to circle each other, creating a makeshift boundary for their duel. Their laser swords blazed to life simultaneously, Ramt's ruby red, Batero's a shimmering forest green. Batero assumed his traditional Makashi stance as Ramt, surprisingly, assumed the same position. Where had he learned the style? By merely observing Batero before?

Nothing but the throbbing hums of their blades and the faint crackle of Oldroyd fighting and laughing could be heard as they regarded each other ponderously. Then with blazing speed their bodies stood close together, their blades locked in a sudden clap of thunder that seemed to echo through the moisture-starved terrain. Their standoff broke as Batero's fist connected with Ramt's face and their duel began in earnest.

Their rapid and aggressive footwork kicked up large amounts of sand that immediately turned to shards of shattered glass as their laser swords burned through the growing dust cloud around them. Batero feinted, which Ramt took and Batero instead slashed from the side. Instead of passing through Ramt's strong body Batero's blade sizzled through nothing but air, as Ramt had backed away with impossible agility.

The two began to circle once again and Kaye looked on in horror as Batero made a slight wince and subtly moved his free hand down to his side. He was still hurt; and despite his attempts to conceal it, Kaye wasn't the only one to notice. With a widening grin, Ramt dashed towards Batero with a powerful swing that Batero barely deflected, knocking him off balance.

Ramt kept up his attack, slashing and thrusting powerfully, ferociously as Batero seemed to shrink behind his laser sword, his footwork sloppy, a wince now permanently on his face. Kaye wanted to shoot Ramt right between his demon-red eyes, but continued to struggle against the invisible hold he maintained upon her. She wouldn't helplessly watch Batero die, blast it!

Batero lazily, tiredly glanced a blow off his blade and struck a weak thrust at Ramt's side which Ramt parried with a ferocious swing that sent Batero's laser sword flying into the shifting sand. Batero collapsed, clutching his side, his pain wildly apparent. Ramt stood over him, his crimson blade mere inches away from Batero's contorted face. He raised his arm to strike and Kaye frenziedly fought to break free but to no avail and was forced to look on as Ramt swung his sword down on Batero, who then stopped midswing and stared, disbelieving, at a sizzling bar of green energy protruding from his torso. Ramt immediately collapsed and their laser swords fell deactivated into the settling sand.

Faster than Kaye could physically see, Batero's laser sword had flown and activated by itself to lodge its burning body into Ramt's body. Kaye couldn't believe it. When had Batero learned to use the Force in that way? She moved to stand but realized despite her immediate following confusion that she still was stuck in place. Was Ramt not dead?

"Why can't I beat you?!" Ramt, coughing blood, yelled as he knelt, his arms buried partly in sand.

Kaye watched as Batero slowly rose, not due to pain, which had apparently been a rather clever ruse, but almost it seemed out of respect, some strange reverence for his foe. Batero stood directly before Ramt's shaking blue body, his blood a dark stain on the titian sand. Retrieving both their weapons, Batero knelt on one knee, putting his hand on Ramt's shoulder.

Ramt looked up at him with fading red eyes, tears that slightly shone sliding down his face.

"Because you shouldn't be fighting me, and you know it," Batero said in a voice barely audible to Kaye.

"How long are you going to be a slave to the Emperor?" Batero added softly.

"I don't know what you talking about," Ramt began.

"When your clones weren't finishing the job, they finally made the real you come. And no matter what I decide to do to you, you're a dead man either way. Because you failed. And the Empire doesn't tolerate failure." Batero interrupted.

Kaye was impressed. Despite being in a drugged haze most of the time, Batero had deduced a number of things that Kaye had merely suspected. Ramt's sobbing silence proved Batero's claims and Kaye realized she no longer feared Ramt, but began to feel a growing pity for him. He wasn't that much different than she. Slaves to masters they did not want, coerced to commit horrors out of fear.

"What do you want me to do?" Batero asked softly. Kaye had never heard him speak in such a way, so calm—almost loving. The whole situation currently was very strange. An enemy that turned out to be a trapped friend—and somehow Batero had known all along.

What else hadn't he told her about their adolescence apart?

"Forgive me," Ramt simply uttered.

"Already done, my friend," Batero gave a reassuring smile.

"Please… Release me." Ramt had nothing but despair in his eyes, a twisted form of failing hope and burning spite that his death would hurt his oppressors somehow.

"May the Force welcome you," Batero muttered, sticking the hilt of Ramt's laser sword on Ramt's heaving chest. The blade ignited in a flash of blood-red brilliance and disappeared as quickly as it came, another smoking hole in Ramt's muscular body but a final, twisted, bloodied smile upon his tear-stained face.

Kaye leapt off the top of the supply crate as soon as Ramt's hold lifted and moved to stand by Batero, who was merely standing above Ramt's fresh corpse, staring down at him.

"Are you okay?" Kaye asked concernedly.

Batero turned to face her and she was surprised to see two red, horribly bloodshot hazel eyes from which thick, hot tears flowed. Before she could say anything, Batero wrapped his thick arms around her in a tight embrace, his face buried in her long hair. His bulky frame shook terribly as Kaye attempted to soothe him, lightly stroking his thick, tousled damp hair and gingerly patting his sweat-stained back.

As they continued to embrace each other, Batero slowly let one of his hands slide lower down Kaye's back. As his hand neared her waist, Kaye got an idea in her head that made her face flush, which fortunately Batero could not see being buried in her shoulder-length hair.

Batero suddenly broke the embrace and stepped back with a sly smirk, a smoking streamer in the corner of his mouth. Kaye blushed further. He just wanted his blasted streamers back; having took them from the belt around her waist!

"You have a problem," Kaye finally said, which Batero answered with a bark of laughter.

The two stood there for a moment longer until they both realized there was a fight happening on the other side of the supplies. Dashing around the crate, they saw Oldroyd merely sitting on the ground, charging his electric staff with power cartridges from the Gamorrean's energy axes, alien corpses littering the sands.

Oldroyd looked up as he heard them approach, flashing them his feral smile.

"I told you before; I love killing things," Oldroyd chuckled nonchalantly, and having finished the charging of his weapon, stood, pointing at the sail barge.

"There's more of them up there," He added with a shrug.

"Nice; we got Jabba hostage in there?" Batero asked, his jovial mood returned as he blew out a stream of violet smoke.

Oldroyd shook his head, laughing.

"No, Jabba's not in there; his kind don't do the dirty work personally. It's not the Hutt way." He explained.

"What happened with the Imperials? Sent them away in a shameful retreat?" Oldroyd asked with a smile.

"No, we killed them all," Batero responded in a matter-of-fact tone, which made Oldroyd begin to cackle in earnest. The Twi-lek had an odd sense of humor, Kaye decided.

"Although we should probably get off this hellhole of a rock—that probably wasn't the entire Imperial force sent to chase us down." Batero suggested, signaling on his comlink to TC-93 for pickup.

"Though it probably was from Jabba," Oldroyd surmised.

"It was very gracious of him to lend us this sail barge—we can use it to transport the supplies the rest of the way to Anchorhead." He added.

Kaye frowned in confusion.

"Won't Jabba want his barge back? We'll be endangering the people of Anchorhead if we do that." She objected.

"Jabba knows the perils of Tattoine. Jawas will have this thing stripped so fast half of it's going to be on its way offworld before he even has his men come looking for it." Oldroyd explained, sheathing his staff into its crude holster on his back.

Within moments the three of them got the supply crate loaded onto Jabba's appropriated sail barge, set the navigation for Anchorhead, and watched the barge sail away into the coming sunrise.

The sand around them began to churn furiously as _Mynock's Maw_ roared overhead, slowly lowering until it was just above the raging earth. The three of them clambered onboard and TC-93 took them out into the tranquility of space.

"We have one Star Destroyer, _Victory_ -class, known as _Raptor_ , locked on our position. I could use some assistance navigating our escape." TC-93 chimed over the intercom.

"Bloody droid," Complained Batero in a huff of smoke as he made his way up into the cockpit. The old gunship began to shake as the near-deafening sound of lasers bursting on their shields surrounded them. Despite this, Batero's dulcet tones could be heard as he argued with TC.

"I've already set the course, activate the hyperdrive, you dense piece of outmoded junk!" He yelled. The sound of the lasers cannons disappeared abruptly and the eerie stretched feeling one experiences at incredible speeds was prominent. They had entered hyperspace.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Kaye relaxed into her seat. Oldroyd merely chuckled, but uneasily; he did not care for combat in space. After some loud banging echoing from the cockpit, TC-93 finally emerged, somehow looking ruffled despite his lack of controllable features. Kaye smiled as he whirred over to Oldroyd, communicating to him in Oldroyd's native tongue.

She didn't understand the language, but she felt she understood the gist; it was a message from some of his contacts that was simply being relayed by TC-93. She took a short and well-deserved rest. She thought about Inquisitor Ramt. His life had been so sad. She thought about Wiles. He'd still be on _Dragon Eye_ , orbiting Geonosis. Though she supposed he could be anywhere he wished. She thought about Batero, and how he had held on to her so tightly back on Tattoine. Then her mind wandered and she awoke with a start, then repressed a groan as TC-93 was still delivering the message. How long could it be?

Deciding to stretch her legs and wanting to talk to Batero, she made her way to the cockpit. As she climbed the ladder to the co-pilot's seat, she heard the intercom crackle to life.

"Dropping out of hyperspace into Oppal's orbit. We lost them." Batero boomed smugly as the stretched feeling dissipated and the familiar roar of _Mynock's Maw's_ engines became audible again.

Then an unfamiliar sound, like the horrifying shriek of an actual mynock, sounded from the back of the gunship and engulfed half of the ship in a horrible, massive fiery explosion.

Alarms blared, circuits burst into flame and the whole remaining scrap of ship screamed into reentry, plummeting like a bullet into the wintry tundra below.

"We got hit! Whoever it is, they're coming to finish us off!" Yelled Batero, popping the cockpits open and the two of them wildly clambered out into the growing snowstorm. Kaye barely had time to register, let alone mourn that Oldroyd and TC-93 were gone. They needed to get somewhere safe.

Running from the smoking carcass that was _Mynock's Maw_ , Kaye and Batero ran together through the howling and bitter snow, their footsteps marred by a sinister dark trail of blood. The duo headed toward the now-finished refinery building, the horrible scream of their assailant's _Firespray_ -class starship wailing above their heads. Batero grew heavier and heavier and Kaye began to stumble underneath his weight. They managed to bumble their way inside the refinery, which as the door slid open slapped them with an uncomfortably warm gust of heat.

Making their way further inside the eerily silent structure, Batero finally collapsed halfway through the third corridor as his apparent loss of blood overwhelmed him. Kaye felt fear like a sharp spike in her chest and clumsily fumbled her comlink on in her panic. Only one person she knew could help them right now.

"Wiles?" She nearly whispered, her voice echoing off the stainless steel walls.

"Just stay where you are until I contact you. I am coming. I'll take care of this bounty hunter." Wiles voice crackled through the comlink, in his typical omniscient manner. So it was a bounty hunter that was after them. Kaye wondered which one it could be. Who flew a _Firespray_?

Kaye brought her rifle up to her shoulder, glancing as quickly as she could down both ends of the dark corridor. The newly yet faultily installed lights flickered off and on ominously, a chilling feeling intensified by the dark red stripes of blood on the wall from Batero's gaping stomach wound.

The bounty hunter hadn't found them yet; that meant that Wiles had made it in time. Kaye relaxed, shrugging off her rifle and looked over at Batero.

He sat on the floor awkwardly, gingerly holding his guts as the blood spilled over his shaking hands. His eyes were squeezed shut and his mouth a clenched grimace. Kaye knew he had moments to live. Better late than never.

"I love you, Batero," Kaye ran it through her mind as she stooped down next to him, putting her hand gently on his shoulder to gain his attention. She swallowed her tears as she knew that nothing could be done to save him. Batero opened his eyes; they were still lucid, but a glassy shine began to slide in from the corners.

"Batero?" Kaye ran her hand through his long, wet dark hair. His bright hazel eyes locked with her dark blue ones. He smiled, spurring Kaye to say what she felt since she had left the Jedi Order, so many years ago. The first time she thought she would never see him again.

Kaye began. "I love-!" A strange whirring sounded, then a sharp click.

The dark corridor lit up in one brilliant, terrible white flash, an overwhelming heat blasting through Kaye and Batero's bodies as their surroundings disappeared into oblivion. It was the most beautiful sight Kaye had ever seen—and she was glad it was her last.

A hero's death. Kaye was finally at peace.


	7. Chapter 7

EPILOGUE

Wiles let out a deep sigh, his ghostly breath visible in the wintry air. Flurries of snow raged about his dark body, a sore blight in the maelstrom of oblivion. His vibrant eyes of orange and cream reflected the garish red light of the burning building where Kaye and Batero had been hiding. His eyes drifted away for a moment as he followed the bright streak that was the bounty hunter fly away into the night.

Wiles waited a moment more and then stepped his way down the snowy embankment, lithely striding into the collapsing building through a blackened doorway. The raging fire burned his clothing but left his pitch black body unscathed and as cold as space. He stepped around scorched debris as one of the support beams fell upon him, striking his head and instantly snapping in two to fall on either side of him, his gait undeterred.

He rounded a corner and through the inferno saw the scattered charred remains of his friends. He felt a great pain, deeper and different than he had ever experienced in his chest and his head. He wondered if perhaps he _was_ vulnerable to the blaze around him.

 _No, this is different_ , he pondered, flames clinging to the remaining cloth on his arms and chest.

He closed his eyes and reached out through the galaxy, through eternity. Power filled him and he welcomed the familiar inner warmth. As the conflagration intensified, his dear friend's remains floated silently and gracefully into his outstretched arms. He cradled them tenderly against his chest as he strode back through the building and into the howling icy wind. He climbed up the embankment and lay his friends in the virgin snow, their remains casting haunting shadows from the light of the fire that killed them.

Wiles closed his eyes once more, filling himself with power, more power than he had ever previously held. He would save his friends. He did not want to lose them. He couldn't!

He focused his power and saw in his mind the burned remnants of Kaye and Batero arranging themselves into a grotesque echo of their bodies. He saw the char flake away, new bone, sinew, muscle and flesh writhing and binding until he opened his eyes and saw exact, perfect replicas of his only friends.

Reaching through eternity, his eyes closed one final time as he searched the unknown universe, the resting place of the dead. It took time, but he found his friends, their spirits vibrant and strong. They smiled at him and he smiled back. He was quite familiar with this sensation. It was called joy.

I have a way for you to return, he explained to them. He showed them his creations and waited as they simply existed near each other. Love was such an interesting emotion. They turned their attention back to him and shared their decision. They would not return. Their time was over. They had no desire to fight anymore.

Wiles understood. He pulled his conscious mind back to his physical confines and let his power dissipate into the growing blizzard. He felt again that great pain, but as he walked back to the building, which still was embroiled in flames, he realized what it was, what it meant.

It was heartbreak. He had lost his only friends and for eternity. Despite all his power, being the personification of the dark side of the Force, as the living called it, they had told him they would not return. And that was more painful than he could bear. He decided something as he planted himself in the middle of the building, the fire blue and white around him. If he could not bring his friends to him, he would go to them. The Awakening was not yet. He could have a precious few moments more with his friends.

As he willed the flame to burn and destroy his body, he knew it would be a short time until he returned. He had come at this time because he had believed that Kaye was indeed the Morning Light, but he had been wrong. She was the Darkest Night, the one who precedes the Awakening. The time was coming, Wiles reckoned as his body collapsed into dust, relieving his true essence.

The Prophecy shall be fulfilled.

'When the galaxy shall burn in the Light and all shall die, gathered in Night.'

When his brother will return…


End file.
